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Aluminum PocketShip

PostPosted: Mon Jun 03, 2019 5:23 am
by Arjen
Bflat wrote:Aluminum Pocketship; what a wonderfully tough boat that will be. What are some special considerations, if any, in using aluminum on the design? Will you use aluminum spars? Carbon, perhaps?


Of course it is quite a thrill to build a proven design in non proven way. So I dit a lot of research before starting this adventure. Fortunately we have some small (5-8 meter) aluminum boat builders in the neighbourhood which I visited and they were very helpful.

In aluminum construction you can rivet, glue or weld. In this case welding was the most obvious method to choose. Except from welding method there is a significant difference in construction method, depending on the size of the boat and the thickness of the aluminum sheet metal. Lighter boats (for fishing and racing) are constructed from 2-3mm sheet. To make the hull stiff enough they make use of frames and stringers.

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When you use 4mm sheet (as I do) a "boxing" construction design will make the hull stiff enough. The PocketShip has the perfect design for this way of building. That means that I can make use of the parts as used in the original.
So the complete hull including bulkheads etc. will be made in 4mm aluminum. I forsee that I have to reinforce certain areas though like the transom and maybe some areas of the bottom.

Guess what... A center board trunk... In aluminum!

PostPosted: Fri Jun 21, 2019 11:58 am
by Arjen
First results...

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